Taking It To The Streets
Here is a quick overview of some of the popular services and how they stack up. Most have online demos, which is a great way to learn about the service and see how it works.
WebEx fees start at starting at .33 per minute or monthly rates. This service offers an interactive and fairly simple web office environment with audio, video, notes and whiteboards designed for small business. You can even record your sessions. Save big dollars in traveling and conduct sales webinars with multiple audience members.
Citrix GoToMeeting starts at $39.00 per month. It’s a terrific tool geared toward users who need to make remote online presentations with fully integrated voice-conferencing capabilities. Participants can view any application running on their PC in real time.
Vonage starts at $24.99 per month. It’s a good tool for three-way calling plus offers many other voice and mobility features.
Skype for Business starts at $29.95 per month. You can set up a conference for up to 10 people, chat with up to 100 and make video calls anywhere in the world.
SharePoint Server: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a new server program that is part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Your organization can use Office SharePoint Server 2007 to facilitate collaboration, provide content management features, implement business processes and supply access to information that is essential to organizational goals and processes.
Online Chat and Instant Messaging
These aregood tools for immediate feedback, and are easily available on the road through almost every cell phone and all PDAs. Besides being the purview of teenagers, used wisely, online messaging can be a handy tool for exchanging small amounts of information quickly.
VoIP (Voice over IP)
Mobility Features at Small Business Prices
So what exactly is VoIP, how can it help mobile and remote users and how can it improve your business? Instead of traditional phone lines, VoIP uses the Internet to make and receive phone calls. VoIP has come a long way from the days when questionable voice quality and carrier confusion made it difficult to deploy and manage without research and expertise. Today, VOIP offers many benefits over conventional PBX phone systems (typically starting at 8K to10K with voice mail and auto attendant) including lower cost, less complexity, PC/Office integration and more advanced communication features. Beyond saving you money, VoIP also has the potential to increase productivity by giving traditional phone communications a mobility it's never had before. Take a VoIP phone on the road, and you can place or receive calls as if you were sitting at your desk from almost anywhere.
VoIP mobility offers numerous benefits:
- Make and receive calls and check voicemail through software standard phone functionality such as caller ID, transfer and speed dial.
- Convert voice mail to e-mail and check voice mail through a web browser.
- Web conferencing.
- Follow-me features, which allow calls placed from anywhere to appear to be from your office phone.
- Software-based call management and toolbar integration with Outlook to unify communications.
Ilene Rosoff is the president and founder of The Launch Pad, a 15-year-old Florida-based technology services company specializing in small business web hosting services, web design and development and complete IT services and solutions for local and national clients.
